New super sweepers hit the streets

New state-of-the-art sweeping machines in a range of shapes and sizes are set to hit the streets this week in the next stage of Croydon Council’s 'Don’t Mess With Croydon' campaign.

As part of its drive to clean up the streets, the council is investing more than £1.2m in street cleansing equipment, waste collection vehicles and solar-powered bins, targeting hard-to-reach areas like housing estates and high impact public spaces.

From this week four new compact mechanical sweepers - representing the latest in street cleaning technology - will be deployed in town and district centres across the borough.

The new sweepers, which are to be used on roads and pavements, are more efficient, flexible and convenient, with a large hopper providing greater coverage and a longer sweeping operation. They will provide a better standard of cleansing with increased frequency in busy areas such as town and district centres.

The machines are also quieter and more environmentally-friendly than the older model - with emissions reduced by around 85 per cent. This brings them line with the requirements the Ultra-Low Emissions Zone (ULEZ), which the Mayor of London’s is proposing to extend and could be in place by 2020.

Croydon Council is also investing in three narrow 3.5 tonne cage tippers to clean hard-to-reach areas such as housing sites, narrow alleyways and flytips, as well as two new refuse collection vehicles to collect orange waste bags.

Meanwhile Croydon street cleaners will be equipped with 25 new vacuum cleaners to be used in the most needed areas and a further 25 units to be rolled out across the borough.

The vacuum cleaners are flexible and will enable the teams to clean heavily parked roads getting in between parked cars, as well as being better for the environment. Cllr Stuart Collins, cabinet member for clean, green Croydon unveiled one of the machines at Monday's cabinet meeting.

At the same time 50 more solar-powered bins will be installed to keep busy areas in district centres - such as entrances to stations and parks - tidy. Solar powered street bins are able to compact waste to approximately eight times the capacity of a standard street bin and are being rolled out following a successful trial in the town centre. This will free up resources to concentrate on street cleansing activities.

Cllr Collins, cabinet member for clean, green Croydon, said: “Clean streets are a real priority for our residents and they make a huge difference to the way people feel when they visit our town and district centres. We have been asking residents and businesses to do their bit by disposing of their waste responsibly - and we are doing ours by upgrading our service, investing in equipment that will help us do the best possible job when it comes to cleaning pavements and public spaces. The new machines are also greener and less polluting, which helping to keep Croydon’s air cleaner.”

Andrea Lowe, Contract Manager for Veolia in Croydon, said: “This demonstrates our commitment to cleaning the streets of Croydon to the highest standard. Not only are these new machines extremely efficient, but they are also designed in line with stringent European emissions levels making them amongst the most environmentally friendly vehicles operating in the borough.”

Sign up for our newsletter

Keep up-to-date-with the latest news and updates by subscribing to our monthly newsletter

About Us

We aim to make everyone's experience and impression of Croydon town centre a better one so it is regarded as one of the premier destinations in south London in which to work, live, visit and do business. find out more